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Three frames taken during the FPP London 2012 meetup using the Pentax Auto 110 camera that I previously used in week 46 of my 52 film cameras in 52 weeks project:
The first 2 years of the project are covered in this book:
www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/detail/2869629
Expired (2001) Kodacolor Gold film, developed in Tetenal C41 chemistry.
Sony RX1 User Report.
I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.
The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.
Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.
It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).
Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features
The Price
First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:
Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.
Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.
You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”
In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.
35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2
The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.
While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...
I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.
As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.
Design is about making choices
When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.
So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.
In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.
In use
So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.
Snapshots
As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.
I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.
To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.
Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.
Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.
How I shoot with the RX1
Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.
Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.
So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).
Working within constraints.
The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.
To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.
Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.
I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.
But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.
Pro Tip: Focusing
Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.
Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.
Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.
Carrying.
I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.
LR05 HDX plate 211 Hackney Crap BANNED ON YouTube(Annotations)
www.dailymotion.com/pukkadrivernumber1
www.vimeo.com/pukka driver
www.youtube.com/user/pukkadriver
Speed 'RAMPED' pedestrian crossing Less than 30 metre's - just under 97 feet
YOU and YOU alone are responsible for the safety of your reversing manoeuvre. IT is ABSOLUTEY incumbent upon the reversing driver to ENSURE that it is safe FOR all other road user's BOTH BEFORE AND DURING this manoeuvre. IF their manoeuvre IN ANY WAY IS DANGEROUS or IMPEDES THE FREE MOVEMENT, OR IS LIKELY TO IMPEDE THE FREE MOVEMENT, OF ANOTHER ROAD USER THE PERSON REVERSING MUST STOP UNTIL IT IS SAFE TO CONTINUE.
www.gov.uk/.../the.../using-the-road-159-to-203
AT THIS POINT I'm now LESS than 18 Metres - 62 Feet and at that point YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED
JUST AS YOU BEGIN TO MOVE BACKWARDS I AM LESS THAN 9 Metres - 28 Feet from you colliding with me. You were on the other side of the road at this point MY SIDE IS CLEAR THEN YOU IMPEDE ME WITH YOUR MALICIOUS AND INCONSIDERATE ACTION. (Don't let you insurer see this - IT will increase your liability)
I'm DOING TWENTY MILE's PER HOUR that's 20 MPH
OH AND FOR THE RECORD I DON'T WEAR GLASSES BECAUSE I DON'T NEED THEM (He claims Mr Ray Charles & Mr Stevie Wonder can see better than me!!!!!)
This is a public road where there can be no reasonable expectation of privacy and anyone expecting privacy is therefore being wholly un-reasonable
Like · Reply · 21 hrs · Edited
Pukka Driver Mr T has sent you a message via YouTube
Hello, I would appreciate it if you could remove the video you posted in which I am doing a u turn, it was a mistake, I didn't judge how far you were from me. People make mistakes; I have a clean licence and have been driving for 12 years. I apologise for any inconvenience caused. It's (I’VE EDITED HIS NAME & REGISTRATION HERE SO HE CAN’T COMPLAIN ABOUT HIMSELF EXPOSING HIS OWN PRIVACY) LR** HDX. Thank you.
Like · Reply · 21 hrs
Pukka Driver to Mr T you were quite brazen and bullish at the time of the incident with un-kind words. Since then you have made comment that I somehow perpetrated your mistake with aspersions that it was I at fault. Furthermore you are not the only ‘taxi’ driver who has been grossly inconsiderate to me and the public at large and just like all of them you resort to verbal abuse in defence of your WRONGDOING (mistake). Not content with this you further malign Mr Ray Charles and Mr Stevie Wonder and compare their blindness to me. How dare you besmirch those who unlike you and I do not have the privilege and good fortune of sight.
You made absolutely no attempt to judge my distance from you. I do not consider your manoeuvre to have been anything other than utter selfishness and gross inconsideration to me or anyone else who might find themselves in a similar situation. Your problem sir is that your erratic driving has been exposed and you do not like that, well DON’T drive like that then. I’ve held a licence for far much longer than twelve years and it is clean and I have never driven with such inconsideration towards another road user ever. So no sir I will not remove the video
He then complained about this, the current one and you 'can't' see anything, BUT it’s had more views of nothing than the original had views of something. How ironic is that?
Chair of the Users Advisory Group, General Lester Lyles speaks at the National Space Council's Users' Advisory Group Meeting, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
Nice to se an El Camino in user condition. They are pretty useless as pick ups, but they sure look good. Bed is nicely scratched and chipped - and judging from the engine noise, somewhat "hotted" up engine.
This is a copy of a message posted by William Sutherland concerning the recent IMA user poll and in particular the Survey Results that everyone who cares about ipernity have all been waiting for.
A big thank you to all concerned with undertaking this initiative and for their work in compiling the information as published so far.
I imagine though that there are still people out there that don't know that ipernity has been under threat of closure or that there are efforts being made to establish the Ipernity Members Association Project group.
So, please feel free to add this image into your faves so that we can draw as much attention to the current situation as possible.
I've not assigned it any protection rights so please feel free to download it and either add it to your own photostream or send it to your friends and contacts.
Equally, you might want to consider posting it in any groups that you administer.
You can follow or contribute to the ongoing discussions regarding the survey results by clicking here.
flickriver.com/photos/javier1949/popular-interesting/
3TTMAN (Louis Lambert) "La Chutte" (La Caída) calle Marcelo Usera 168.
El autor comenta: después de 7 días de trabajo, probablemente no sea la pared me siento más orgulloso en términos de significado pero era un desafío. Cada forma en que el mural es enorme y el tiempo no ha colaborado durante su realización. De todos modos, estoy supercontento de haberlo hecho. Como el título lo indica, se trata de la caída de la criatura / civilización. Podrían ser terrestre o podrían ser dios, pero que están cayendo sonriendo ... "L'importante pas c'est la chutte; c'est l'atterrissage. No podría haberlo hecho sin la ayuda de Don Andrea Pancaldi.
3ttman.com/site/2014/12/15/la-chute/ 3ttman.com/site/ www.delimbo.com/expos-artistas/3ttman/
Paisaje Sur. Plan de Mejora del Paisaje Urbano en Usera y Villaverde
Artistas de vanguardia decoran las fachadas, muros y otras zonas con “graffitis” de diseño
Un experimento sociológico en Nueva York instaló dos coches en barrios muy diferentes de esta ciudad: el suburbial Bronx, y el bohemio y elegante Village. A ambos vehículos se les rompieron las ventanillas. El que se colocó en el Bronx, a las 24 horas había sido vandalizado y estaba destrozado. El del Village, lo mismo. “Cuando un espacio está degenerado, esa sensación se contagia, y se acelera la degradación”, concluye el concejal de Las Artes, Pedro Corral. Precisamente para evitar este efecto, se han elegido los distritos de Usera y Villaverde para la segunda experiencia de Mejora del Paisaje Urbano en la capital, un experimento que lleva el arte urbano más vanguardista a las zonas degradadas de los distritos periféricos. La idea es convertir lo que hasta ahora era un espacio abandonado –una tapia de un solar, una fachada, un muro medianero entre bloques...– en una referencia artística para los vecinos. Lo hacen contando con éstos, con artistas vinculados a los barrios y de renombre en el panorama del arte urbano. Con sus creaciones, dan una nueva vida a lugares que están abandonados, sin uso o que el tiempo ha deteriorado. Les dotan de una nueva personalidad, y en función del artista y de la inspiración del lugar, pueden llegar a transformar una plaza, un solar o una medianería sin aparente gracia en un rincón lleno de arte, y convertir las calles en auténticos museos al aire libre.
Este plan, desarrollado por la Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural y Calidad del Paisaje Urbano del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, se enmarca en las líneas estratégicas encaminadas al fomento de la creatividad, la participación pública, la colaboración con los distritos y la difusión del paisaje urbano.
Paisaje Sur engloba un conjunto de actuaciones en Usera y Villaverde, tras el éxito del proyecto piloto en el distrito de Tetuán. Las acciones incluyen intervenciones sobre muros deteriorados, en plazas duras y la mejora y acondicionamiento de huertos urbanos. Participan artistas y colectivos, organizaciones ciudadanas, agentes culturales, económicos y sociales de los barrios, en coordinación con las Juntas Municipales de distrito. Los espacios y el tipo de intervenciones se han decidido tras analizar las necesidades de cada distrito así como los posibles ámbitos de actuación del proyecto. Además se ha contactado con el tejido asociativo y vecinal de los diferentes espacios a intervenir para involucrar a los vecinos en esta "puesta en valor" de sus barrios.
Entre las intervenciones, se encuentran murales realizados por creadores y colectivos de artistas radicados en el distrito. También se han acondicionado espacios o solares con huertos urbanos ya creados por los vecinos, con la intención de mejorar sus infraestructuras y dar apoyo a sus usuarios. Asimismo, se van a realizar acciones sobre plazas duras, mediante la creación de infraestructuras y espacios culturales portátiles demandados por los vecinos en plazas con poco uso para su gestión ciudadana. Se organizan, además, charlas con los vecinos para explicarles las acciones y se han nombrado coordinadores vecinales para que, como agentes sociales con conocimiento del contexto social y cultural, coordinen y difundan el proyecto dentro de cada uno de los barrios a través de visitas guiadas.
Estos proyectos se están llevando a cabo de la mano de Intermediae-Matadero Madrid, que han contado con Basurama, PEC, Todo por la Praxis, Zuloark, Las Ciento Volando, Jóvenes Creadores de Villaverde, Cruz Roja de Villaverde, Asociación Vecinal La Incolora de Villaverde, Servicio de Dinamización de Espacios Públicos de la Asociación La Rueca, Asociación de Vecinos Zofío de Usera, Sala Kubik Fabril y Espacio Oculto. Además han participado destacados artistas como LAGUNA, 3TTMAN, SUE, SPOCK y DOSJOTAS en el distrito de Usera; y LIQEN, ESCIF, SAM3, ARYZ y E1000 en el distrito de Villaverde.
Durante el año 2014, se han realizado doce de estas intervenciones en varias localizaciones diferentes
DETAILS FOR THIS VEHICLE.
Location : Stewarts Lane Depot, Battersea.
Date : 16/02/1993.
Type : Water Storage Tank Wagon.
Weight : 35t GLW / 13t Tare.
IU Number : 083520.
Former Number : DB 998989.
Builder : 1958 by Charles Roberts Ltd, Wakefield.
TOPS Code : ZRV.
Designation : Creosote, (formerly).
Lot no. : 3139.
Diagram no. : 1/636.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
Tank wagon 083520 was first declassified to Internal User status for use at BREL Eastleigh Works in the 1980's. By the early 1990's it had moved to Stewarts Lane Depot in South London where it was used for possibly water storage or de-icing fluid before being condemned after sustaining collision damage with a set of buffer stops (as seen here, note bent buffers, damaged track and stop blocks).
Prior to its downgrade to internal user status it was built for BR as a 22t capacity Creosote tank wagon operating between tar distillers and BR sleeper preparation depots. The bulk of the BR owned tank fleet was in use for this product alone as it was deemed department traffic. Oil companies etc. were expected to have their own wagon fleets when using the national network. There were 42 of these 35t GLW Creosote tanks built to diagram 1/636 with a 4880 gallon capacity and built with vacuum train brakes and roller bearings.
Volvo B8L 12m
2019
2019 (Brand new / Very early version):
V6B1, WA 4799
Original Size:
www.flickr.com/photos/kcr58drawings/50284069093/sizes/o/
Complete:
/
Last Update:
2023-12-31
This picture is also posted to:
/
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KCR 58 (Drawings)
Mr.Azharuddin a.k.a Azr™ with his new/old Om1n at the Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur. Outing with the popular photographer. Some might dispute the title! But it's for fun...nothing is claimed here. Taken at Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur - a new precinct of the commercial development was just opened to the public. A sloped development with escalating stairs were an attraction.
Out Shooting with Azr, 1977! and Burnterque. Finishing up my expired roll of ILFORD DELTA 400 with the Pentax 67. A bit of low light shooting and night shooting - hand held! Yep!....The P67 can be tamed.
│PENTAX 67│Pentax 105mm F2.4│ILFORD DELTA 400│Expired Jan2009│Self-Development│Ilfotec DD-X│1/4 Dilution│8 minutes│Wide Open│
Another shot courtesy of Flickr user m20wc51, this one taken in Japan by a US sailor known only as Phil, probably around 1956. It shows two boys rough-housing on the deck of a ship, perhaps a local ferry of some sort.
The shot was faded, but was relatively quick to restore at least some colour. The original camera used was not a particularly high-end type, as can be seen from the vignetting in the corners of most of Phil's shots, but he had a good eye and a penchant for street photography that served him well. I used a round of automated dust-busting followed by some manual cleanup to get rid of most of the age specks, but I've left a number of horizontal scratches as is, since "fixing" such things can often do more damage than the effort is really worth.
I've also slightly straightened the image (assuming the sea surface as level) which you can see by comparing it to the original, here.
An epic 45surf / Gold 45 Revolver gun shoot in an old Western ghost town! You can glimpse the ghosts in some of the photos!
Join Johnny's Hero's Journey Mythology Goddesses facebook! www.facebook.com/45surfHerosJourneyMythology
Subscribe to my youtube for epic goddess videos! www.youtube.com/user/bikiniswimsuitmodels
Twitter: twitter.com/45surf
Follow me on facebook! facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken
A gorgeous brunette model goddess with piercing blue green hazel eyes! Nikon D800E Photos Cowgirl Goddess with Cowboy Boots, Cowboy Hat, & Gold 45 Revolver! Wearing cutoff blue jeans with a leather buffalo nickel cowboy hat and black snakeskin cowboy boots! Modeling Johnny Ranger McCoy's Gold 45 Revolver Gold'N'Virtue T-shirt! Pretty, smiling blue eyes and long, long legs! A classic California goddess!
Nikon D800E Photos of a Pretty Brunette Cowgirl Goddess in Cowboy Hat & Blue Jeans Cutoffs Modeling Gold 45 Revolver Gold'N'Virtue Lingerie with the famous golden gun! The Colt 45 Revolver comes directly form Clint Eastwood's/Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars--my favorite Western--heck my favorite all-time film, exalting the classical, archetypal themes I seek in all my photography! The goddess is standing in front of the 45surf summer beach house!
She was tall, thin, pretty, and fit with gorgeous blue eyes and long, long legs! Shot with the new D800E and my favorite workhorse lens the very sharp Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens. A slight change of pace for all my flickr fans!
Nikon D800E Photos Cowgirl Model Goddess with Cutoff Daisy Dukes Blue Jeans Cowboy Boots & Gold 45 Revolver Gun!
Modeling the black & white 45surf & black & gold "Gold 45 Revolver" Gold'N'Virtue clothes with the main equation to Moving Dimensions Theory on the swimsuits and lingerie: dx4/dt=ic. Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! :) You can read more about my research and Hero's Journey Physics here:
herosjourneyphysics.wordpress.com/ MDT PROOF#2: Einstein (1912 Man. on Rel.) and Minkowski wrote x4=ict. Ergo dx4/dt=ic--the foundational equation of all time and motion which is on all the shirts, clothes, and swimsuits. Every photon that hits my Nikon D800e's sensor does it by surfing the fourth expanding dimension, which is moving at c relative to the three spatial dimensions, or dx4/dt=ic!
May the Hero's Journey Mythology Goddess inspire you (as they have inspired me!) along your own artistic journey!
5 User-friendly Methods to Help You Write Article t.co/3O869cKJRU #acn (via Twitter twitter.com/AgenciaCN/status/805866233518297089)
Sony RX1 User Report.
I hesitate to write about gear. Tools are tools and the bitter truth is that a great craftsman rises above his tools to create a masterpiece whereas most of us try to improve our abominations by buying better or faster hammers to hit the same nails at the same awkward angles.
The internet is fairly flooded with reviews of this tiny marvel, and it isn’t my intention to compete with those articles. If you’re looking for a full-scale review of every feature or a down-to-Earth accounting of the RX1’s strengths and weaknesses, I recommend starting here.
Instead, I’d like to provide you with a flavor of how I’ve used the camera over the last six months. In short, this is a user report. To save yourself a few thousand words: I love the thing. As we go through this article, you’ll see this is a purpose built camera. The RX1 is not for everyone, but we will get to that and on the way, I’ll share a handful of images that I made with the camera.
It should be obvious to anyone reading this that I write this independently and have absolutely no relationship with Sony (other than having exchanged a large pile of cash for this camera at a retail outlet).
Before we get to anything else, I want to clear the air about two things: Price and Features
The Price
First things first: the price. The $2800+ cost of this camera is the elephant in the room and, given I purchased the thing, you may consider me a poor critic. That in mind, I want to offer you three thoughts:
Consumer goods cost what they cost, in the absence of a competitor (the Fuji X100s being the only one worth mention) there is no comparison and you simply have to decide for yourself if you are willing to pay or not.
Normalize the price per sensor area for all 35mm f/2 lens and camera alternatives and you’ll find the RX1 is an amazing value.
You are paying for the ability to take photographs, plain and simple. Ask yourself, “what are these photographs worth to me?”
In my case, #3 is very important. I have used the RX1 to take hundreds of photographs of my family that are immensely important to me. Moreover, I have made photographs (many appearing on this page) that are moving or beautiful and only happened because I had the RX1 in my bag or my pocket. Yes, of course I could have made these or very similar photographs with another camera, but that is immaterial.
35mm by 24mm by 35mm f/2
The killer feature of this camera is simple: it is a wafer of silicon 35mm by 24mm paired to a brilliantly, ridiculously, undeniably sharp, contrasty and bokehlicious 35mm f/2 Carl Zeiss lens. Image quality is king here and all other things take a back seat. This means the following: image quality is as good or better than your DSLR, but battery life, focus speed, and responsiveness are likely not as good as your DSLR. I say likely because, if you have an entry-level DSLR, the RX1 is comparable on these dimensions. If you want to change lenses, if you want an integrated viewfinder, if you want blindingly fast phase-detect autofocus then shoot with a DSLR. If you want the absolute best image quality in the smallest size possible, you’ve got it in the RX1.
While we are on the subject of interchangeable lenses and viewfinders...
I have an interchangeable lens DSLR and I love the thing. It’s basically a medium format camera in a 35mm camera body. It’s a powerhouse and it is the first camera I reach for when the goal is photography. For a long time, however, I’ve found myself in situations where photography was not the first goal, but where I nevertheless wanted to have a camera. I’m around the table with friends or at the park with my son and the DSLR is too big, too bulky, too intimidating. It comes between you and life. In this realm, mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras seem to be king, but they have a major flaw: they are, for all intents and purposes, just little DSLRs.
As I mentioned above, I have an interchangeable lens system, why would I want another, smaller one? Clearly, I am not alone in feeling this way, as the market has produced a number of what I would call “professional point and shoots.” Here we are talking about the Fuji X100/X100s, Sigma DPm-series and the RX100 and RX1.
Design is about making choices
When the Fuji X100 came out, I was intrigued. Here was a cheap(er), baby Leica M. Quiet, small, unobtrusive. Had I waited to buy until the X100s had come out, perhaps this would be a different report. Perhaps, but probably not. I remember thinking to myself as I was looking at the X100, “I wish there was a digital Rollei 35, something with a fixed 28mm or 35mm lens that would fit in a coat pocket or a small bag.” Now of course, there is.
So, for those of you who said, “I would buy the RX1 if it had interchangeable lenses or an integrated viewfinder or faster autofocus,” I say the following: This is a purpose built camera. You would not want it as an interchangeable system, it can’t compete with DSLR speed. A viewfinder would make the thing bigger and ruin the magic ratio of body to sensor size—further, there is a 3-inch LCD viewfinder on the back! Autofocus is super fast, you just don’t realize it because the bar has been raised impossibly high by ultra-sonic magnet focusing rings on professional DSLR lenses. There’s a fantastic balance at work here between image quality and size—great tools are about the total experience, not about one or the other specification.
In short, design is about making choices. I think Sony has made some good ones with the RX1.
In use
So I’ve just written 1,000 words of a user report without, you know, reporting on use. In many ways the images on the page are my user report. These photographs, more than my words, should give you a flavor of what the RX1 is about. But, for the sake of variety, I intend to tell you a bit about the how and the why of shooting with the RX1.
Snapshots
As a beginning enthusiast, I often sneered at the idea of a snapshot. As I’ve matured, I’ve come to appreciate what a pocket camera and a snapshot can offer. The RX1 is the ultimate photographer’s snapshot camera.
I’ll pause here to properly define snapshot as a photograph taken quickly with a handheld camera.
To quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So it is with photography. Beautiful photographs happen at the decisive moment—and to paraphrase Henri Cartier-Bresson further—the world is newly made and falling to pieces every instant. I think it is no coincidence that each revolution in the steady march of photography from the tortuously slow chemistry of tin-type and daguerreotype through 120 and 35mm formats to the hyper-sensitive CMOS of today has engendered new categories and concepts of photography.
Photography is a reflexive, reactionary activity. I see beautiful light or the unusual in an every day event and my reaction is a desire to make a photograph. It’s a bit like breathing and has been since I was a kid.
Rather than sneer at snapshots, nowadays I seek them out; and when I seek them out, I do so with the Sony RX1 in my hand.
How I shoot with the RX1
Despite much bluster from commenters on other reviews as to the price point and the purpose-built nature of this camera (see above), the RX1 is incredibly flexible. Have a peek at some of the linked reviews and you’ll see handheld portraits, long exposures, images taken with off-camera flash, etc.
Yet, I mentioned earlier that I reach for the D800 when photography is the primary goal and so the RX1 has become for me a handheld camera—something I use almost exclusively at f/2 (people, objects, shallow DoF) or f/8 (landscapes in abundant light, abstracts). The Auto-ISO setting allows the camera to choose in the range from ISO 50 and 6400 to reach a proper exposure at a given aperture with a 1/80 s shutter speed. I have found this shutter speed ensures a sharp image every time (although photographers with more jittery grips may wish there was the ability to select a different default shutter speed). This strategy works because the RX1 has a delightfully clicky exposure compensation dial just under your right thumb—allowing for fine adjustment to the camera’s metering decision.
So then, if you find me out with the RX1, you’re likely to see me on aperture priority, f/2 and auto ISO. Indeed, many of the photographs on this page were taken in that mode (including lots of the landscape shots!).
Working within constraints.
The RX1 is a wonderful camera to have when you have to work within constraints. When I say this, I mean it is great for photography within two different classes of constraints: 1) physical constraints of time and space and 2) intellectual/artistic constraints.
To speak to the first, as I said earlier, many of the photographs on this page were made possible by having a camera with me at a time that I otherwise would not have been lugging around a camera. For example, some of the images from the Grand Canyon you see were made in a pinch on my way to a Christmas dinner with my family. I didn’t have the larger camera with me and I just had a minute to make the image. Truth be told, these images could have been made with my cell phone, but that I could wring such great image quality out of something not much larger than my cell phone is just gravy. Be it jacket pocket, small bag, bike bag, saddle bag, even fannie pack—you have space for this camera anywhere you go.
Earlier I alluded to the obtrusiveness of a large camera. If you want to travel lightly and make photographs without announcing your presence, it’s easier to use a smaller camera. Here the RX1 excels. Moreover, the camera’s leaf shutter is virtually silent, so you can snap away without announcing your intention. In every sense, this camera is meant to work within physical constraints.
I cut my photographic teeth on film and I will always have an affection for it. There is a sense that one is playing within the rules when he uses film. That same feeling is here in the RX1. I never thought I’d say this about a camera, but I often like the JPEG images this thing produces more than I like what I can push with a RAW. Don’t get me wrong, for a landscape or a cityscape, the RAW processed carefully is FAR, FAR better than a JPEG.
But when I am taking snapshots or photos of friends and family, I find the JPEGs the camera produces (I’m shooting in RAW + JPEG) so beautiful. The camera’s computer corrects for the lens distortion and provides the perfect balance of contrast and saturation. The JPEG engine can be further tweaked to increase the amount of contrast, saturation or dynamic range optimization (shadow boost) used in writing those files. Add in the ability to rapidly compensate exposure or activate various creative modes and you’ve got this feeling you’re shooting film again. Instant, ultra-sensitive and customizable film.
Pro Tip: Focusing
Almost all cameras come shipped with what I consider to be the worst of the worst focus configurations. Even the Nikon D800 came to my hands set to focus when the shutter button was halfway depressed. This mode will ruin almost any photograph. Why? Because it requires you to perform legerdemain to place the autofocus point, depress the shutter halfway, recompose and press the shutter fully. In addition to the chance of accidentally refocusing after composing or missing the shot—this method absolutely ensures that one must focus before every single photograph. Absolutely impossible for action or portraiture.
Sensibly, most professional or prosumer cameras come with an AF-ON button near where the shooter’s right thumb rests. This separates the task of focusing and exposing, allowing the photographer to quickly focus and to capture the image even if focus is slightly off at the focus point. For portraits, kids, action, etc the camera has to have a hair-trigger. It has to be responsive. Manufacturer’s: stop shipping your cameras with this ham-fisted autofocus arrangement.
Now, the RX1 does not have an AF-ON button, but it does have an AEL button whose function can be changed to “MF/AF Control Hold” in the menu. Further, other buttons on the rear of the camera can also be programmed to toggle between AF and MF modes. What this all means is that you can work around the RX1’s buttons to make it’s focus work like a DSLR’s. (For those of you who are RX1 shooters, set the front switch to MF, the right control wheel button to MF/AF Toggle and the AEL button to MF/AF Control Hold and voila!) The end result is that, when powered on the camera is in manual focus mode, but the autofocus can be activated by pressing AEL, no matter what, however, the shutter is tripped by the shutter release. Want to switch to AF mode? Just push a button and you’re back to the standard modality.
Carrying.
I keep mine in a small, neoprene pouch with a semi-hard LCD cover and a circular polarizing filter on the front—perfect for buttoning up and throwing into a bag on my way out of the house. I have a soft release screwed into the threaded shutter release and a custom, red twill strap to replace the horrible plastic strap Sony provided. I plan to gaffer tape the top and the orange ring around the lens. Who knows, I may find an old Voigtlander optical viewfinder in future as well.
This is a possible scenario for the evolution of portable social graphs.
On-line (User) Experience is like air. This visual focuses on how the user extends his / her on-line assets to experiences. The user's assets are: identity, connections and data (uploaded or observed in user's behavior).
The assets are management through settings (Sharing Management) and allow to integrate with on-line experiences.
It took us about 30 min but we finally got this circle to hold.
Magic City Lego Users Group June Meeting
So, below is the picture I shot, I went out in the snow today, but it stopped snowing! But would you believe it, Picnik has a snow feature :D Add some softening, some matting and some vignetting and I like it better, much more wintery :)
I love the snow, so much. This is the most snow we have had in years and we have another week of it forecast. Awesome.
Thats my mum and dog in the distance for your info.